In the summer of 2009, I officially joined the growing number of LHDP fans on the AE forum. I did it for one reason: I was in so much pain from the death of Silvia Castro. I needed to "talk" with people who loved this character like I did. I wanted to share my love for Pepa and Silvia with others who shared my passion for this storyline.
I can say with confidence that it was one of the best decisions I have ever made.
When I look back to the very beginning of Pepsi--to the introduction of Pepa Miranda and then to the terrible death of Silvia Castro, I can clearly see why I loved this show. I have written many lectures and posts on why this storyline worked and why it was historic. We all know how rare it is to find a television show that is respectful, fair and intelligent when it comes to gay characters especially a lesbian love story.
I have stated repeatedly that American TV doesn't allow women to look at each other like Pepsi did. To touch each other. To kiss. And to simply talk. We were fortunate to be there for this magnificent ride.
I look back on Pepsi episodes as the good old days. How many music videos were made dedicated to these two characters? Their scenes were studied like they were specimens in a CSI lab. We wrote about fingers touching fingers, unspoken looks, types of kisses, the clothes they wore, the times they made us laugh and cry, and the many moments that we saw how it must be to be loved.
We were sad and angry with Silvia's death. We felt betrayed by a television show that we loved. This was a show that we believed finally got it right. Here were producers and writers who were committed to a good lesbian story. This was reason to celebrate and we did, by watching each episode in anticipation of new Pepsi scenes.
And now, we are pissed. We are angry about the many changes in LHDP, and not just because of Pepa's storyline. Many of us debated whether we would watch this season without Silvia, but most of us said that we would because of Pepa and we were simply curious.
But the producer put a knife in our hearts and then he, with the same knife, he hoped to remove our brains. It is impossible to watch season 9 with any intelligence or romance. They took what we loved about the show and destroyed it.
Does it surprise anyone that my favorite episode in this season was the return of Silvia? When they write for Pepsi, there is beauty in the words and in the silence. In those brief ghost scenes there is an intensity that has been lacking in this season and it is obvious that the show has lost its way.
We have been searching for the heart, smartness and humor of LHDP and we finally have to admit that the search is over. The show was over when Silvia died.
Her death scene was symbolic for the death of of the show. It was bloody, painful and unbelievable to watch, just like season 9.
My esteemed colleague Dr. Piper is justified in her anger. All of us should be angry because one man (Alex Pina) destroyed a show and now it is over. At the end of season 8 four actors were no longer were working on the show. At the end of season 9, everyone involved with LHDP is unemployed. As they say, he couldn't have screwed this up more...if he had tried.
Dr. Booker
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14 comments:
Thank you for this wonderful lecture sweety!
It is really touching! I am speechless again....
...Even the silence of PepSi has to say to us much more beautiful things than this whole action-thriller mess!
Cause their love is eternal! :-)
Thanks!
I couldn't have said it better myself.
Let Pepsi live forever in our minds and hearts as they were in the beginning.
daydreamerz
When I started watching PepSi I had no idea this show would change my life dramatically. I came out after Silvia's death and compared to a year ago I can honestly say I'm a happy lesbian. Alex Pina fucked up season 9 but I owe him season 1 to 8.
Thank you Dr. Booker for a great lecture. Welcome back.
hello everyone, its such a great opportunity for me to wrote a simple thank you to everyone that has been a part of Pepsi University, with all the recaps, lecture and comments that I've been reading just to keep me updated on LHDP... many times i planned to post a comment on every lecture but in the end i just end up with a smile on my face knowing im not alone who felt betrayed with the last season,im not that much interested to watch the ending of LHDP anymore, because the killed silvia, even with pepa still in it!!! just for me to savor the PEPSI moments...BUT,.. the with this latest lecture of Dr. Booker Ive found another reason to watch LHPD again "I look back on Pepsi episodes as the good old days.about fingers touching fingers, unspoken looks, types of kisses, the clothes they wore, the times they made us laugh and cry, and the many moments that we saw how it must be to be loved." PEPSI brought my fairytale to life..
ROB4821
thanks again... ^_*
Jess: That definitely needed to be said.. Thanks for wording it, Dr. Booker!
I'm not really angry at Alex Tiny Penis Pina - more like a sense of schaudenfreude - that his ridiculous experiment with the DNA of the show will end with his tiny penis between his legs.
For some reason, I still like this season even though Silvia is gone, simply because I (along with a multitude of our colleagues and students) can still sit on our high chairs and dismantle each episode with sublime self-righteousness. Or maybe because I just like puzzles, and it's become one every week.
Sure I feel bad for Paco, Juan Diego, Laura, Pepon Nieto, Goya, and the glorious Cristina Plazas - they've struggled to make lemonade out of the stinky lemons they've been dealt.
When you watch the show with clinical detachment, it is still kinda fun. I will still be sad when it's over. Like all great shows, there's a point when originality and creativity take a toll and you end up with Fonzie jumping a shark. That's like the unwritten rule of TV.
And from a statistician's point of view, I've long been suspect of the methodology used by Nielsen. Like all good statistical exercises, one has to examine the validity of each assumption and exogenous variables. One has to constantly adjust the population distribution to ensure that the sample rating is still within normal distribution. And then you have that one BIG VARIABLE - La Liga and UEFA. The you have other stuff like Daylight savings time and the weather and you know that numbers, per se, need some major adjustments. How Nielsen has not factored in variables like these and not normalize their ratings is simply lazy and irresponsible.
Thanks for the lecture.
Totally agree well said booker
and thank you for saying it =)
Fantastic lecture, Dr. B! What a great way to summarize the journey many of us experienced from whenever it was that we started watching the show/participating in the PepSiverse until now. And an excellent point about how the decisions Alex Pina made had consequences, not just for the viewers, but for those who worked so hard on this show over the last 5 years. In a sense, I feel like they are the true victims.
I'm w/ Dr. P on being upset though. There are elements about S9 that I do find intriguing, so I'm not mad, more apathetic about a lot of it (which might be worse, I suppose). And I'm totally w/ Dr. P on the Nielsen ratings. I think it's an outdated, inaccurate, and flawed system.
Anyway, great lecture! I've missed you and your amygdala.
Thanks for the great lecture. I agree whole-heartedly with everything that you have said. When Silvia died the show ended. I tried to watch this season objectively but I could not. Many shows have passed over the years but this show really got to me. I thought - finally - a really well written show that will last a long time. Oh well, it wasn't to be. Thanks for all of the comments and insight and the lectures. I will read this blog and comment until it is no more.
Dr. I think my pain relieved. But after read yours, I found that I still hurt. Agree with you 100%. I don't like this season.
nev
Dr. Booker, what a great article that so elloquently expresses the fans' pain after Silvia's death (and S9) as well as why we love PepSi so much. It's so sad that Pina's choices led to the cancellation of the show and unemployment for hundreds of hard working people - dammit! Still, despite slogging through this season, I wouldn't have given up my time of being a PepSi fan for anything.
To Scoopgirl - bravo to you for finding the courage to be yourself! Stories like yours are the real influence of PepSi's love story - that thought makes me smile every time!
I agree of course, with your sharply written comment and accurate voicing of many visitors pain in watching LHDP.
Only one part of my brain keeps thinking perhaps it was a mercy killing too. And maybe I should be partly thankful.
What if they would have chosen the bad way out: like end their relationship half a year after the wedding? What if they never intended it to become so strong and well developed?
Would have led to even worse ideas like: make Silvia fall for a guy, have Pepa move away for fear of commintment or anything else totally out of character.
I mean I have seen it happen in many soap or drama series.
Only two happy endings for lesbian couples I know in long term tv drama's before ... Nikki and Helen in Bad Girls (BBC prison drama 1990- ...) end up together (after three seasons and are never heard of again...unfortunately). And Kerstin and Sascha in the German prison drama Hinter Gittern (Behind Bars) end up together because they fake Sascha's death succesfully. And also leave and are forever gone.
So my mind keeps imagening other endings, less violent, but more controverse-avoiding. Turn straight, cheat, fight all the time, etcetera.
And now, basically, I don't know whether I should feel releaved to not have to witness that sort of rubbish or feel robbed by this heartbreaking written ending we have now faced.
Thanks for an eloquent article that expresses the pain of fans of this show and of Pepa and Silvia's relationship from around the world. The show completely set us up emotionally for a fall, and then literally, as you said, put a knife through our hearts. I've never loved or related to a TV couple as much as I did this one (heterosexual or homosexual), and contrary to all my expectations, given that I'm not a TV person in general, I've been profoundly and deeply saddened by what the producers of LHdP did to them. Pepa and Silvia added an intensity to the show that could never have been replaced anyway. Alex Pina and colleagues should have realized that they were running out of ideas, and given that Marian wanted to leave the show, they should have wrapped it up at the end of Season 8 in a *happy* wedding finale.
Recently Marian Aguilera said "I had a lot of fun filming LHDP" Really? Then why you left? Do tell, darling beloved Marian. Not that an actress human being should make career decisions based on how much you character means to your fans, but it so backfired bad. A lot of people thinks the show ended with Pepsi--happy ending-- wedding, Alex Pina fault for not making you an offer you couldn't refuse. Married life for you would have been not that different, forensic work, police work with your better half, or not. Maybe your Dad would have transfer you or Pepa bc conflict to have both together, I mean, very little screen time. Maybe you had very little police work time, although Pepa didn t do shit as a cop. Well, so many and death was the easy and definetely way out.
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